Stumbling Through Adulthood

I absolutely adore Taylor Swift.

Not her music, which is really not my genre, though the lyrics, when read, do often resonate.

No, Taylor Swift, the woman, the cultural phenomenon, the person who is taking the world by storm and creating a mania that is... making people happy. I just love it, love the fact that a young woman is creating this energy, this joy.

I'm an introvert. Still, even at the smaller metal concerts I've gone to, I've felt and embraced the energy of the crowd, and loved it, and wondered if that's what extroverts feel all the time! I can just begin to imagine the wonderous, excited and exciting feelings that all those people, most recently at Wembley Stadium in London, are sharing.

I mean, how awesome is all this?

I love that she's unapologetically Taylor Swift. And I'll happily and proudly call myself a Swiftie.

I'll probably never go to a Swift concert. I could not deal with the crowds and I'm self-aware enough to know it. Some visit to my sister, I'll try to check out the movies of the show, because I'd like to see it, even though I know much of the energy will be missing.

You go, girl!

It was a great day, with one nasty spot.

First the hike. We got out early and made good time on the trail. The last 1/2 is where a good bit of the 1000ft elevation happens, it's done via stairs mostly. So stairs, then an up but less steep switchback series up with lots of roots and many many rocks. Then the falls. This is the 3rd of a series of four waterfalls, and the drop is about 100ft. With dh for scale.





It was really great to be out in the mountains, even if the weather wasn't perfect. I mean, I know I get to my wildland park, with trail and trees etc, but nothing is comparable to the painful scrambles of a real hiking trail!

The sour note. We were coming down the final bit of steep trail (before a trail intersection). At that point, the only place we could be coming from was the falls. We met two women, both thin and fit, and we moved aside to let them pass (uphill has priority!). One of them asked me "Did you get to see the falls?" Get. Get. I blurted something like, yes, they were great but OMG, the crash. If you are thin, maybe that comment sounds like a throw-away one, but as a fat woman, what she was asking implied that my failure to reach the end of the trail I was coming down was enough of a possibility that it merited asking about. That maybe I'd seen the stairs and decided to come back down with just a half mile to go? While wearing, I'd add, hiking boots that have seen many a mile of trail. It just fucking hurts, it's othering, because she'd never say that to a thin person, indeed the question was directed at me not dh. It's the same type of thing I constantly encountered while cycling, people would call out "good job!" when I was riding the goddamn same ride they were. Encourage the fatty, right? Anyhow, it left a sour sheen on an otherwise awesome hike.

In my dreams, I'd hike in an Escher world where the trails only go up and I never have to go fucking DOWN. I hate downhills with a passion. They hurt. Up is usually just a matter of setting my pace, but down is painful hips and knees, the fear of falling and the tension that creates. I've always hated downhills, and it's not gotten any better as I've aged, LOL.

After the hike, we headed home for a bit, then went into Seattle to meet Anne-Chloe and we went to a Kamelot concert. It was great! I love love love live music, and it's our first concert since probably 2019. We masked up, fingers crossed we don't catch Covid. The energy was great, the music wonderful and even my hike-weary knees couldn't stop me from some jumping, ugh. We didn't get there early enough to get up close, so we retreated to the elevated above the floor bar area. Didn't get seats, but Anne-Chloe and I managed to get to a spot where we could see. Why are most of the people who attend metal concerts 6ft plus tall burly men? (Usually with beards, but that's irrelevant to the fact that they aren't transparent!) We were standing behind a woman (seated) who clearly didn't want to be there, she spent most of the concert surfing Instagram and on her Band of America account, apparently checking out transactions. My one gripe? That the (three tall burly bearded drunk) guys to our right had chairs right up front of the bar wall and stood up most of the time anyhow, keeping the people behind them from seeing.

They played a few songs from their new album, but mostly older familiar ones, and people were clearly enjoying themselves, it was great.

In excellent news, I found the soundtrack to Ladyhawke on Spotify.

I loved that movie, and the music even more so. Happily listening.

I -needless to say- did not watch the Coronation of King Charles III, lol, though of course I've seen the photos, the highlights, and the commentary.

This morning, reading an article from the Guardian, I decided to listen to the music. I'm a bit over an hour in of 4 hours total of the BBC 3 recording, and it's spectacular.

Just lovely.

It's available from Spotify, I guess, but this is the BBC link, which will be up for 26 days (?): The Coronation Part 1: Coronation Music from Westminster Abbey.

Highly recommend.

Perry banging out Wizards of Winter on the piano!

1. Family visit. It was good. My mom continues to slip, but her PCP has found a combination of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds that appears to be helping her enjoy herself. She's much less stressed than she's been. It was nice to see my aunt, down from Canada, and my sister and BIL. We will be seeing them next week for Linnea's annual birthday camping trip!

2. Sweet moment yesterday: Linnea gave a small flute concert (mainly Sinatra, to my aunt's delight), and then she shared her faves playlists. Which contains Humperdinck (WTF is that name? I mean, aside from that ass in Princess Bride), Roy Orbison, Sinatra, Glen Campbell, and a few others that delighted my mother, aunt, and BIL (who is my mom's age). What was sweet? Linnea played Sixteen Tons (which I guess is by Tennessee Ford, news to me), and aunt, MIL, and BIL all started singing along with her. It was lovely. I think sis has video, I'll post if it I can. The funny thing? Linnea said, after they were done "I have an old soul", LOL. But I cannot say how happy they were, ya know?

3. Drove my aunt up to Vancouver today. The border wait was long northbound, not quite as bad southbound. I planned in advance, and brought some skim milk with me, so was able, oh bliss, to have a large cup of steeped tea from Tim Horton's. I love that tea, and because of the 2#$#3$#~~~~!!! pandemic, it had been waaay too long. In good news, our new enhanced driver's licenses worked to get us across the border and back (I brought passports just in case).

So hard to describe, but so very wonderful.

Music we all love, from movies we all love.

An elderly man, animated and clearly happy to be there. Always making sure to give credit to the musicians.

When he sat down at the piano and started to play, a seemingly simple tune, I started to weep. I'm not sure my eyes were dry for more than a few minutes during the whole concert, neither were Anne-Chloe's, or Perry's or Molly's.

It was... music that tugged at your heartstrings, for my children, it was the soundtrack of their childhoods, for me... well, it was as well. Chihiro, Kiki, Nausicaa, and even Ponyo, friends of theirs.

So much music, so many films tied into the moment when a young girl comes into her own, often at the cusp of childhood, and shows the person she will be when she finishes her journey.

The soloists, one so sparkly, one in flowing lavender with sparkly shoes, Hisaishi's daughter, as he told us, in accented English.

There were encores, and encores. He smiled and waved. and I don't think I've ever been to a concert that has left me so emotionally.... engaged. From sobbing through much of it, to the end, the joy and smiles of Totoro.

The screen above showed clips from the films, but also the musicians, the singers, Hisaishi. And a message of hope and goodwill, that we'd emerge happy and healthy from these difficult times.

It was extraordinary. I am glad we got to go. Postponed twice, planned in a world pre-Covid, this felt like so very wonderful.

A few images.

Linnea didn't take symphonic band this quarter and has instead been working on playing Frank Sinatra songs.

Which just shows... you can play Heavy Metal to a kid their whole lives and they still can end up with totally different tastes than you. Which is kinda awesome.

That said, overheard this evening while Linnea was talking to the music teacher, referring to Frank Sinatra: "Oh I know, he's so emo!"

And that just cracked me up.

Linnea isn't taking band next quarter, because she really doesn't like the temporary director. So she decided to focus on music she wants to play (since she works with our music teacher still).

And what does she want to play?

Sinatra.

On the flute.

She printed out My Way and Strangers in the Night and she sound pretty damn good already.

I'm not a big Sinatra fan and it tickles me pink that Linnea is. None of us like jazz either, and she does, so eh, she's my beloved little changeling.

That said, My Way was initially written in French, but a Frenchman, called "Comme d'habitude", meaning as usual or as always and written and sung by a singer my sister loved but I didn't. So I know many, but no all of the words. Standard American Culture means I know a lot of the works, but not all, of My Way. So as she plays, I'm singing along IN MY HEAD back and forth between the two languages, and not knowing 100% of the words even with both.

As Perry said: "Joe Hisaishi (*) just made 24 000 people cry over a paper airplane."

(*) Composer for the Miyazaki movies. He's awesome.